Memories are Made of This

Old Photos of Christmases in the Past

The first Christmas after we married in 1964.... 

I loved those plaid wool pants and red banlon sweater!

 Many Merry Christmases later... our oldest son and his wife...  

Scott and Kim.

Our second son and his wife...

Larry and Jackie.

and our daughter and her husband...

Duane and Denise.

 We have been blessed with grands in our lives...

Laura was our first...

Then a few years later Kaylee our second granddaughter came... 

Here she is  entertaining us with a story

the Christmas Eve after she learned to read!

Hunter was our first grandson... born the next year.

 Two weeks less than a year later Doug came along...

Then came Caitlin!

Everybody got into the act frying shrimp 

for this Christmas Eve supper. Even our old Lab - Jake thought he was helping.

Denise always had the children's undivided attention

and they loved playing games with Aunt Necey!

 Kaiser, Saydee, and Jake enjoyed Christmas, too.

 Getting the shrimp ready to grill was my job.

 Pappy still loves his smoker that Scott made for him.

 Kaylee and Hunter talked it over, 

and thought we should open gifts asap! 

Pappy consulted moms and dads before buying these 22's.

Even Angels ears get cold in the winter time!

 Our little girl and our big girl...

The fantastic five posed for ONE MORE picture!

We're the proudest Pappy and Nanna you can imagine.

At Christmastime  I love to look at old photos and pause 

to reflect on the joys we have in our lives, 

and to count our blessings. Our children 

and grandchildren have given us more joy 

than we can express, and these pictures remind me

of how much we have been blessed, 

not only at Christmas, but all through the years as well.

I don't thank the Lord often enough for our blessings.

A Family Milestone

 Our second granddaughter graduated from high school!  We were proud to attend the luncheon the Sunday before graduation, and that night we went to the Baccalaureate Service at the First Baptist Church.  Each of the graduates who attended was presented a Bible at the end of the service.  A former student/graduate who is now a minister gave the sermon and did an outstanding job.  Kaylee's family, both sets of grandparents were there for the first event marking her graduation.

PawPaw, Laura, & MawMaw

Dad and Mom

Pappy and Nanna

The Big Day:  Graduation finally arrived!

Receiving that important document...

Changing the tassel

enjoying the ceremony... or something (lol)

almost over...

just the Alma Mater---Hail to the, our Alma Mater...

then the moment they all waited for...

The traditional finale to high school graduation! Tossing the hats!

These came just for Kaylee:

Doug and Laura

Caitlin 

Hunter

A very proud family!

Aunt Necey and Uncle Duane

Uncle Larry and Aunt Jackie

The next day we all gathered for hamburgers and all the trimmings 

to honor our graduate~not to mention recognizing our other graduates:

A.J. got his Bachelor's Degree from S.F.A. 

and Larry got his Master of Education in Administration from Lamar Tech.

Congratulations, Graduates!

 Kaylee was honored with a special dessert, a Kaylee Cake.

Congratulations, Kaylee!  We love you!

We're so proud!

Fresh Vegetables on Our Menu...

 Spring always gets our attention... waiting for the first vegetables from our garden.  Wayne pours over seed catalogues for weeks/months planning and getting psyched up for the work ahead.  He has outdone himself this year, after a pretty poor season last year with the drought conditions.  We have plots planted in several places around our yard and a field for several varieties of peas.

 A raised bed holds squash plants which are beautiful, and FULL of blooms and squash.  We've already eaten squash from these plants this season.

 We are fortunate to have a well that we can use to water our veggies. Here the tomatoes and cantelope are getting a shower.  The water was turned on at dark and left on all night; we turned the water off early this morning. 

 Next to the tomatoes are pinto beans... look at the tiny white blooms and the beans under the plants.  You can see one row of pintos beside the smaller butter beans plants in the picture below.  We haven't had those in a long time.  We're hoping they do well!

 Below are cantelope and tomatoes.  The cantelope are blooming and making little melons, but the tomatoes are outstanding.  They have huge tomatoes on all plants.

We have started getting ripe tomatoes, and ripe ones will soon be so plentiful we will be sharing with friends.  Family are the only ones who get to taste these juicy delights now! 

 The plant above was so heavy with tomatoes it pulled the stake out of the ground and fell over.  It looks pretty poor, but it is just LOADED with fruit.  

 We could really use a rain~the dirt is soaking up the water as soon as it hits the ground.  We'll keep watering as often as we need to though. They are too good to waste!

 The pea patch is looking good.  These are purple hulls, and we also have zipper cream peas, and black eyes for New Year's Day.  I can't help but notice the dead trees in the background.  They are a reminder of last year and the terrible drought and hot weather we had.

 Our corn crop leaves something to be desired, but we should have a little taste of corn on the cob if the squirrels, coons, and deer don't get our little dab first!

 Last but not least, our cucumbers are putting on a show.  They are really good just peeled and sliced, or in oil and vinegar dressing with onions and cherry tomatoes.  This year we put up a fence panel and the cukes are climbing on the panel like a vine on a trellis.  It's easier to find them (and pick them without bending over) than it is with the vines running on the ground.

We truly enjoy the bounty from the garden in summer.  Wayne stays busy keeping it fertilized and cultivated early in the season, and I have to step up when harvest time comes.  We have people calling already to be sure that we have their names on the list to get peas when they are ready.  We enjoy having people pick peas and shell them with our pea sheller in the shade by the pond.  It makes me think of all the times my mother, and grandmother and I shelled peas by hand.  The pea sheller is a vast improvement over the 'hand shelling' method, but I love thinking about how fast Mama Hughes (my grandmother) could shell those peas, leaving her thumbs purple with stain from the hulls.  Good memories!